Alaska Airlines, the rage I feel. Tales of an angry MVP 75K

*draft due to me not being able to move nightmare pics from phone to computer during flight

ORD-SEA-GEG Nightmare Sept 27-28.

So my last few flights have been dismal at best.  The first nightmare- when you get a weather delay and you miss the last connecting flight home, there is NO compensation,  Zero, Zip.  The incompetent CS agent who rebooked me on an earlier flight booked the connection for before I was supposed to land in SEA.  Then I noticed I was also not on upgrade list, so I called back CS, and that's when I realized she had booked me on the wrong flight.  So, I went from First Class on my delayed flight to Row 22 or some shit middle seat just to get home that night.  Well, lo and behold, we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours at least and didn't take off.... so... I missed the last 11pmish flight from SEA to GEG.  NO COMPENSATION FOR WEATHER DELAYS.  So, I fucking camped on a bench across from McDonalds in B gate, as by the time I landed it was 1, by the tine I got off 1:30 due to being in the back of the bus, and you can't book Hilton online for day prior so I would have had to call or walk there making it 2AM just to leave at 4:30 AM for my 6AM flight, not to mention walking in the rain to get there.  So no,  I camped at SEA TAC.

After swearing off never getting on a plane again,

PDX-OGG Oct 14.
My next horror flight was to Maui on Oct 14.  I was next on upgrade list but did not get an upgrade.  That's totally fine. Not an issue.  HOWEVER... this fucking baby in the seat behind me (8C) was kicking the seat, whining, yelling, crying, going ape shit, and the parent did nothing.  I turned around the third time after a kicking episode and gave it the look of death like I would kill it.  At that point, the parent (dad)  gave the kid to the mom in seat 8A (window).  Fine.  Let it kick the shit out of 7A, not my problem.  I should have known as when I boarded, because the parents had all their shit staged on my seat 7C while they got situated in row 8.  I was like, uh, this is my seat, is this your stuff?  Can I sit here?  Totally oblivious parents.

GEG-SEA-LAS  Nov 1.
So the day before my flight, I call as I changed to an earlier flight to be by my friend who I was traveling with.  I noticed again that I was not on the upgrade list.  This wasn't the first time, but it was notable the last time on my Chicago flight that I couldn't seem to get on the upgrade list no matter what.  The first agent tried to tell me I had to wait 15 min to see it.  After waiting an hour, I checked again and called again.  This time, luckily I got someone willing to look further into it,  After spending hours on the phone with the agent, she said she knew what was wrong. When you change your flights when checking in (mind you they give you the option), the back end of the reservation doesn't match the front end. They have to rebook your flight and you have to check in again.  Ok, so I did.  Still not on list.  Luckily this agent gave me her name so when I called back CS, I was able to get a hold of her.  (after accidentally being hung up on once, told they can't patch us to a certain person, etc).  I finally got a hold of her again and told her, thanks and all but no, I'm still not on the list.  So she checked into it more and said you have to ask for PFA or something like that, and there's only a few CS reps who can make these changes etc.  After 2 hours of dicking around with this, she decided as a comp to put me in First anyway next to my friend as it was empty.  Thank god.

So, as fate would have it, we are boarding, and encountered the rudest gate agent on the planet.  Sorry ma'am that isn't your seat now, you're going to have to go to the desk.  (line at desk) as I'm boarding for Row 1.  So at desk: sorry, your seat is broken, we have to get you another seat.  Come to find out, yes my seat was allegedly "broken" although my friend tested it and says it's fine - and the seatbelt works as she is in 1A next to my empty 1C seat.  I feel worse for the guy in 4 something as the KID and mom in row 1D and F got moved to his row, and his new seat in 1D broke so he got booted too.  Never mind they didn't boot us to premium....  Here we sit in Row 28, D and E.  What the fuck.  They allegedly moved another First guy to premium and booted a premium lady back here who had a seat next to her hubby as 6C was also broken.  WTF is wrong with the seats on this plane?!??!  There is nothing visibly wrong with them.  Anyway, they handled this poorly as the plane arrived at the gate from Anchorage over an hour before boarding and we were not told until we tried to get on the plane that we got fucked/downgraded. Why did they not move us to premium and downgrade the folks there who just got upgraded?  This was a friggin disaster.  They almost had to kick the guy off who is now in 28E as his rage surpassed mine.  Yeah, I didn't pay for it, but 1) don't be rude, and 2) don't lie to us and 3) why not put us in premium... or say sorry.  No, just total rudeness from SEA agents.  The one agent was decent to me, probably because I looked like I was going to cry.  She took my rollerbag on so it would have a spot and let my friend keep in it 1st with her.  Thank god, I wasn't going to get on last and check my bag.  Anyway, this nightmare continues, I'm starving and was looking forward to the food in First but now I guess I will starve and be in a total rager for the next two hours due to the shitshow of this flight.

Sheraton Seattle

Seattle Sheraton and Loulay, Fountain Bar.  3 stars.

Sorry for the lack of pics:

I was there for a gala event so I stayed at the host hotel.  Nordstrom is a block away.  

The on-site nice restaurant, Loulay has awesome drinks, just don't have too many.  If you look closely, the nice crystal skull decor is kinda cute.  

I have no words for this other than I drank a lot.

The ballroom was nice and large for an over 300 person event.  Rooms here are standard.  The Fountain Bar is fine, but overpriced and service is spotty, so just go to Loulay for a drink as they cost about the same but the atmosphere is a lot nicer.

They have the "regular" amenities, I don't know what brand they are but they are separate bottles for shampoo etc. Nothing special.  They are adequate but you won't be sorry if you bring your own bathroom amenities.  This should all end soon as I hear Marriotts are going all to the bulk toiletries, but in the meantime, don't hope for anything special like the W Bliss toiletries. I would have stayed there but for fear of rain and having to walk all dressed up fancy.

Vdara peace.

VDARA-

So BF stayed in Vegas after his conference and booked a Vdara Penthouse Suite for a night to relax.  It was a good price.  There's no casino in Vdara, but it's right next to Aria, which has the Crystals Shops and the Tram to Bellagio/Park MGM.  Gorgeous room, I've seen them in person on another trip.

two bathrooms

Nice views.

The coolest part is where you can order coffee, and a robot brings it to you.  In short, Vdara is pretty cool and a great place to relax.

Maui, Grand Wailea, Kihei

 my first scathing review of a property - Grand Wailea

Despite the beauty of the outside of this place, the service was horrific.  Never book with a group.  We got the Molokini Wing, which is basically a shitty wing, a mile from the front desk, facing the south parking garage. Never mind that we were Hilton Diamond members. Never mind that we offered to pay to upgrade. No, we were with a group, so we were relegated to the total shit wing.  The 9th and top floor was given but still parking lot view.

Day 2 we complained as others in our group had better rooms.  Rather than accommodate, they accused me of basically lying and had me name names of other guests!  Crazytown.  This front desk needs a lot of training.  I will never stay there again with status, and with a group.  Most of the rest of the gang had nice rooms in the Chapel wing, some had suites, most had ocean views.  The rest of us in the crap wing never want to speak of this or see this property again.  I can see random folks, but when a friend asked to stay near us, they told him no, it would be a downgrade from his current location in the Lagoon Wing on the ground floor.  That's what prompted the call to the front desk.  At the time I didn't know the others were hanging out in the Chapel wing with nice views.  Diamonds and Gold do get a free continental breakfast.  The tip is to ask for it to go, and they bring it to you in a bag.  Otherwise you must wait for a table.  Peasants.

This is what we looked like when starving.

Island Gourmet Market next door at the shops. 
Best cheap eats in the area.  Stock up.

 Emerald Course - Wailea Golf. Where's the booze.

The Emerald Course was great.  However, service again here was dismal.  The old guy at check in was a grump.  We had cheap tee time of 3 but he said no one was booked between 2-3 but if we wanted to start early it would cost double.  This would have been fine and we probably would have had we been told they throw everyone off the course at around 5:30 and claim it takes 10 min to drive to the shop.  I think they all just wanted to go home.  When we checked in, he also claimed we could probably finish if we started at 3, and said it gets dark at like 6 something.  Lies, all lies.  Additionally, the beverage cart didn't come for the first 45 minutes at least. It got to the point where we called the pro shop and asked them to come out, and asked the marshal.  Pro tip, just bring your own, it's not like they will notice since they're so inattentive.  Also, the starter did let us start before 3.  So just check in at pro shop for your designated tee time and go see the friendly starters.  They are much nicer.  They also won't let you buy alcohol from the restaurant Gannon's and take it on the course. So.... pack your bag accordingly.

Beautiful views, though.

 Lineage  - another disappointment.

The best thing here were the drinks.  Just don't eat.  The apps were good but basically no one liked the main dishes.  Then, the check came.  All hell broke loose.  She asked one of us if we are from here and he said NO - she then said oh no, I have to charge you for the rice (even though someone asked earlier and it was free).  No Kama'aina discount. That's fine, but she assumed before we were local so it showed 20% off our check.  THEN I realized she had only charged me the 20% service charge FOR THE ENTIRE TABLE.  So my bill was like $70 but my service charge was $60. Ummmm, then she tried to tell me our math was wrong but when I said it's impossible that $60 is 20% of $70, she took all our bills back.  She then took the discount off everyone, charged them for rice and service charge and was totally rude about all of it.  After I got home I realized none of my apps were even on my bill.  One of my buddies probably got screwed for it... never again.

chicken skin drink

super cute cocktail

 Chicken skin drink was good tho.

 So it's about time I tell you, I love Bud Light.  I was pleased as a side note that all our receptions had not only the microbrews, wine, mai tai's, pina coladas and liquor, but also Bud Light.  If only I had stuck to that....  But anyway, was happy to see it as the light beer of choice at the Grand Wailea.

 Beautiful sunsets, no filters.  I don't know how to use filters anyway, so my pictures are "as they are".

 That's the Chapel.  The luau was on the Chapel lawn.  There was another luau on the other side of the resort, I assume they got the good one.  Ours was really short. Food was good but there were two buffet lines - one salads the other meats.  Almost created a riot. 

The Cabana was the best thing here. 

Finally, the last day, as of course we could not get later than 1PM checkout again despite being a Diamond (or they said $150 extra per hour), we bought a cabana.  The $250 cabanas at the adult pool were a steal.  They have a fridge and a little locker to put your stuff.  We hid in our cabana in peace, and took a nap. The cabana also has a little snack of banana bread and fruit.  The adult pool was great.  The other pools were kid-infested other than the Grotto Bar which is a swim up bar that was fun.

 Overall Maui was beautiful, but the treatment at the Grand Wailea of a Diamond member there on a group stay was disgusting.  Next time I'm staying at Four Seasons.  The other trip highlights were Sansei restaurant in Kihei, and the outlet malls in Lahaina, but that was quite a drive.  Ko at the Four Seasons was nice, apps were great, but again the main meals were not that impressive for the price.  Kihei Caffe for breakfast is good - we sat in the inside room at 7AM and it was quiet.  Outside was crowded.  Fun trip with friends, but next time staying elsewhere!

Vegas Mirage, October 2019

Stayed at the Mirage on a random whim when bf had a conference Mon-Thurs.  The Mirage is full of middle-class folks... like Spokane on a good day.  Older crowd, slower moving.  Pros: nice restaurants were available on a whim.  Pool fairly empty.  Bf gambled enough they comped our resort fees and food...host much nicer here than MGM Grand!  Gave us normal room for Platinum, but it was a comped room... rooms at Cosmo comp much nicer for me, but hey.  You have to find a host to ask to waive resort fees, as you'll pay here no matter what if not.

Otoro the sushi and grill was great

 The pool area was nice and quiet during the week - could move around, have space, no rush.

 Normal looking room.

 MGM standard amenities...

The hot tip here is that when you leave at 4AM on Alaska Airlines with no baggage, it's Terminal 3.  Don't stop at Alaska sign or you will have to walk all the way down to security.  Get let out of your UBER at KLM / JetBlue.  You can thank me later. There's also CLEAR here.

Michael Mina, Bellagio. Great date night.

Had an exquisite signature tasting menu dinner at Michael Mina at Bellagio!  The caviar add-on is a must do.  This was one of the best meals ever- I couldn't even finish the last dish.  Wow.

The amuse bouche - they crack the "egg thing" for you...

Caviar parfait.  Must add on.  Yummmm

Ahi, they mix it up for you, pine nuts nice touch

One of the best fish I've eaten

Amazing Lobster Pot Pie

Waygu and fois gras.  Be sure to save room....

best root beer float thing I've ever had.

 Ohhh Bellagio.